OCR Text |
Show Date of Easter Long Matter of Church Dispute Conflicting Opinions Once .Threatened to End in Disruption of Church. The Easter festival occurs this year on the date determined by the rule that has been in general force though not quite universally in the Christian Chris-tian church for just sixteen centuries. Yet the recent proposal to abrogate that rule and give Easter a fixed instead in-stead of a movable date seems to be regarded with complacence, as a matter mat-ter capable of being seriously discussed dis-cussed without evoking charges of apostasy or heresy or causing danger of a schism. This fact denotes the advance that has been made in liberality liber-ality of thought, since it must be remembered re-membered that in early times some acrimonious and persistent controversies controver-sies were waged over the matter. As early as the middle of the Second Sec-ond century a marked difference of practice existed between the churches of Asia Minor and those of Italy, leading to an earnest though friendly controversy between the venerable Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna , and Anicetas, bishop of Rome; the former appealing to the example of St. John (whom he had personally known) and St. Philip, and the latter to that of St. Peter and St. Paul. In the end neither prevailed, and Easter continued con-tinued to be celebrated In Asia on the day ' of the Jewish passover, and In Italy on the Sunday following that day. For a time this difference was an entirely amicable one. But early In the Third century there was almost al-most open war between the two parts of the church. For a century the controversy was violent and bitter, until un-til at last the Emperor Constantine had to intervene, and to direct the Council of Nlcaea in A. D. 325 to formulate a rule for universal observance. ob-servance. That was the rule which Btill in substance prevails, that Easter shall be celebrated on the Sunday following the full moon occurring on or next after the vernal equinox. |